An “Interesting” Experience
On Thursday I went to Langara College’s annual art show for graduating Fine Arts students. It was a lovely event, and there was quite a bit of nice art to be seen. In addition, I had a chance to chat with some art school friends and a few of my instructors. It should have been a perfectly good time, but…
I forgot my phone.
There was a yawning chasm in my pocket where the phone usually is. I couldn’t text Anne to let her know when I was coming home, I couldn’t take any photos, there was no easy way to reach people if something came up, and there was nothing to occupy my mind with on the Seabus or the SkyTrain. It was awful.
I went into a kind of shock.
I survived — obviously — but it makes me wonder how I got by before cell phones. So many things I take for granted now are difficult or impossible without that device. It was astonishing.
And my case of phone addiction is tiny compared to some I know. In 50 years people will die if their devices stop working or go missing.
Thankfully I knew exactly where it was — at home, on a table — and that helped. I still felt stupid for not picking it up before I left, but at least it wasn’t lost. Losing a phone is like losing your wallet or keys these days. I do not wish that upon anyone.
Other than that, the week flew by with lots of time spent working on the monthly email. It’s supposed to go out for review tomorrow afternoon, but things have yet to come together. I’ll get there, but it’s iffy.
I did manage to sand the drywall mud I put up last week. That resulted in a full inch of drywall dust on the floor which was a major pain to clean up. Once that was done I applied a second coat where it was needed. Final (I hope!) standing remains to be done, but it looks pretty good. I’d share photos but all you’d see are white walls. There is nothing exciting to share there just yet.
The other thing I worked on was repairing a dining room chair:
The seat had failed, which turned out to be the plywood being worn through completely where it met a metal support on one side near the front. In the first picture I have applied some glue to the plywood that remains, and clamped it to make it flat again. The plywood that went missing will get replaced with epoxy putty, and then it will be reassembled.
But I discovered a second issue when I took the chair apart. The horizontal brace under the seat had split. In the second photo it has been glued and clamped. It needs a couple of screws as well before I will call that fix done.
These chairs are ancient. We bought them in 1986 for our first apartment, and had them reupholstered about ten years ago, give or take. We’ve certainly gotten our money out of them, but since we still like them — they’re a timeless Danish design — it’s best to get this one back into shape if possible.
In dog news, Tinkerbelle is fine, but aging. Cruzer, on the other hand, is getting worse at a moderate clip. He continues to live on borrowed time, and while we love him dearly, it’s hard to imagine he will be with us in another month. He can barely lever himself into a standing position these days, and he stumbles a lot. His hips and back legs just don’t work like they used to, but he’s still feisty and will not give up.
There will be some sad news here one of these days, but that is part of having dogs.
And on that cheery note, I will sign off. Lots I still have to get done today.